In real time, it had only been a few heartbeats, but in Todd’s mind it had been an hour. Finally the smoke dropped in the air becoming heavy with ash, Todd could taste it as he excitedly called out, “Bill, what do you see?” In eagerness, he wiped the sweat from his brow.
The morning sun penetrated through gaps and holes in the structure, dimly illuminating the small lodge. Bill saw the dark cloud as it billowed and grew, it overtook Todd and it was now swallowing him as well. Bill had been intently watching, he was proud of his friend, the ancestors had chosen to descend upon Todd, Bill rejoiced in knowing it was Todd’s first time to call the ancestors down around him. Bill answered him, “I see the cloud of Mother Earth, she has... hid.... hidden... you” his voice broke up in a fit of coughing Bill moved to the doorway and breathed through the narrow gaps in the wood planks, trying so hard to be silent and listen, not disrupting the ceremony. It was no good, he had to exit and shut the door behind him as the cool morning air greeted him.
Back inside, Todd spoke with a steady voice “Ancestors of Bill, my friend, I’ve humbly come to you on his behalf, Bill would like to receive the gift of the rooster, do you allow him to?”
From outside, Bill had recovered from his coughing, he could hear nothing and saw the smoke pushing out of the crevices in the lodge coming towards him, driving him farther away from the lodge. He could only watch and wait at that point.
Todd waited too, his heart was racing, excitement poured through him, he was actually doing it, a ceremony on his own – and he had no problems breathing the ashy air. There came a tingling sound, barely audible, it grew slowly until Todd recognized it for what it was, the Great Spirit. Todd mouthed the word ‘Unbelievable.’ The voice that he loved was going to speak to him! It was sharp, grating to his nerves, it was millions of tiny shards of glass being stirred together at once, all wanting to hurt him and yet at the same time wanting to communicate. Mother Earth spoke inside his head “Pay your offering before speaking to me.”
Todd fumbled in his medicine bag, his mind raced. What to offer? He couldn’t recall Annette ever having to offer anything. His hands were shaking as he felt around the bag’s meager contents, everything in there seemed inadequate for Mother Earth he had nothing for her. A feeling of dread came over him because he had failed. He wished Annette was there, he didn’t know what to do. Why had he been so foolish to think he could perform an ancestral ceremony alone?
Maybe, he thought, he was supposed to leave an offering on the altar out in the front yard. He tried to get up and leave the cloud-filled lodge, he tried to uncross his legs to stand, but something heavy, or rather – someone, sat on his lap, a naked woman materialized from the smoke, her legs around him, her face only an inch from his. Todd was startled, happy, and perplexed “You can’t be Annette, who are you?
“Pay.” Her sweet breath carried hot dust and glassy splinters that blew into Todd’s parted lips, parching his mouth.
Todd chose to pay. He pulled his shirt off over his head and lifted her light frame off and over to the side of him. After removing the rest of his clothes, he sat beside her and ran his hands over her skin, making sure of the payment type she had intended. He was totally amazed that such a spiritual moment would contain such a carnal act. Annette had never mentioned anything sexual of any nature to him, she had never warned him or prepared him for this, which was unusual for her because she had always over-explained things and was very descriptive in her teachings.
The thick ash cloud veiled her, it was easier for Todd to determine if she was Annette by touching her. As his hands glided over the woman and squeezed her breasts, felt her neck, waist, arms, and face the more he realized she wasn’t Annette. Todd studied her form and felt between her legs, her reaction and body language wasn’t what Todd thought Annette’s would be if he’d tried that with her. He leaned in and smelled her long dark hair. The other night had been so heated and passionate that he hadn’t taken the time to enjoy her, he had assumed the woman was Annette, he’d wanted her to be Annette. He searched his memories and when he really thought about it, he knew he had been wrong about her identity, he didn’t know the woman he had laid with. Todd replayed the memory again, both times the mysterious woman had appeared out of nowhere. Then Todd reclined with her, he mounted her luxurious body but did not enter her just yet, instead he caressed and kissed her face while he recalled how their heights had matched up when laying down the last time, it was identical to how they were right now. With his feet at hers, he compared their height difference to the height difference that would be between him and Annette, this woman he was about to enter was definitely not Annette. It was the same woman both times and it wasn’t Annette. Who was she then? He wanted to see her face but the cloud was dark and thick, he could only make a rough guess of her features, they seemed perfect.
He thought more about it. With a gasp, Todd backed away and his eyes grew wide with a strange notion of the impossible. He had never considered it before, it couldn’t be. Did he even dare to think it, to believe that Mother Earth could become a human? The naked woman before him had to be the embodiment of Mother Earth herself! He saw it all through new eyes and a whole new level of understanding entered his mind, he was a changed man.
When he backed away and sat some distance from her, the woman said nothing. Then Mother Earth moved and knelt down in front of him. Her delicate hands reached out and cupped his jaw line, again her dusty, razor-sharp voice commanded him “Pay.”
Not that he needed to be told a second time, but Todd paid her then. There was a power that came from within him, his rooster implants were working at peak performance now and Todd was stronger than he was before. Pleasing her was easy, he had so much more to give. Over and over he pleased her until he was empty. He rolled off of the Goddess of Earth, exhausted, too tired to talk, too tired to do the one thing he had paid to do, it was ironic and he would have laughed had he not been so winded. He was hot and tired; true, the purpose of the sweat lodge was to sweat, but never had he been so vigorous and worked so hard during a sweat lodge ceremony, he would give anything for a glass of ice water and a cold breeze.
Todd did manage to at least say, “Please Spirit, can I see you?”
Todd figured he’d have to wait, the Great Spirit of Mother Earth wasn’t bound by time and wasn’t controlled by any mortal. But there was no wait, the ash cloud opened up between them, looking very much like a miniature hurricane with a well-defined eye, and he was gazing upon the most beautiful Native American woman he had ever seen. Inside the eye of the storm the air was still and cool, it was exactly what he’d wanted, along with the naked woman before him, in all her glory, Mother Earth cared for his comfort.
All desire for Annette dropped from his mind, there was only Mother Earth. She was stunning and his profound longing for her filled every corner of his heart until it was overflowing for her. She said nothing and did nothing to cover her nakedness, she only watched him with her dark steel-gray eyes. From that moment Todd knew he’d never marry, he was utterly captivated. Then he remembered who he was looking at and closed his eyes tight “Forgive my boldness Great Spirit!” he cried out.
The splintery glass shards of her voice spoke “Go now, tell Bill he has my favor.” then her voice quieted to nothing. Todd opened his eyes but she was gone and the cloud was quickly dissipating. He missed her already and was scheming how he could invoke her presence again. He wiped a tear of sorrow from his eyes, sad for her departure, and put his clothes back on.
Bill was waiting on the back porch, when he saw Todd’s disheveled look of sweat mixed with ash and his stumbling drunk walk, he ran to him “What happened? You were in there for over two hours! Did they talk to you?”
“You have the ancestors’ approval.”
“Alright, let’s do it then!” He slapped his friend on the back then wiped his muddied hand off in the grass. “Thanks Todd, you’re awesome. I bet you’re glad to be out of there, you look like death.”
Todd w
as moving slowly as they headed for Bill’s truck to get the rooster, “I think I’m going to like being a medicine man.” he confided in his friend. He didn’t say anything else about his encounter with the Great Spirit and after helping Bill, Todd went to bed.
Chapter 9
Ravanan led Kalara to a back corner of the lair, she had been there the day before but it was void of any interesting cave formations or tunnels so she hadn’t lingered. Even now as they approached, it was very common looking to her.
He stood in the shadow made from a slightly protruding rock that was somewhat taller than him. With a small movement, he quickly wet his fingertip with his tongue then touched the dark side of the rock while casting “REVEAL”. The shadow of the rock changed into a narrow crevice of the same size, it easily fooled the eyes. They would have to turn sideways to even fit in there in human form and there was no way that a large dragon would even notice it.
Ravanan turned to Kalara and cast “STARLIGHT” on her and then also on himself. Both of them were now emitting a soft glowing light.
“I seldom come down here, to keep this section lit up would be a waste.” he explained then climbed inside.
Kalara nodded and eased herself in, following Ravanan who was already a few paces ahead and ducking for a low-hanging rock that was ahead of him. As they followed the jagged turns and slopes of the path, Ravanan told her more about the bow they were going to see.
“I remember it took you a few years to get the bow right and more than one trip to the Hawaiian volcano because your spell kept ruining the crystals. You had to find the most pure olivine sand grains, the kind that only occur on that rare green beach.
His voice echoed in the tight-fitting tunnel. “The bow had to be green’ you said, no other color would do. No other mineral would do, the bow had to match the forest. But olivine? It’s such a brittle mineral, the enchantment to make it resilient was the most difficult part of the whole weapon. But once you had thought it up you wouldn’t rest until you made the thing.”
Kalara was anxious to see the bow, amazed it was real. “So why do you have my bow?”
“I brought your things here while you were healing, thinking you might want them.”
“Thank you for that. You didn’t tell me I owned anything, I wish I could remember. What about my lair? Why didn’t you take me there?”
“My anchors take me to my lair, not yours. You were getting hurt every time your body reformed at each anchor, I needed to get you somewhere safe as soon as possible. As soon as I find a way to make you safe from Annette’s curse and we have got your hidden memories back, you can leave the protective mist of Black Blade Lair and go do whatever it is that you Acamas do. Until then you are my guest and you can relax. I’ll take care of you just as I have been doing.” He turned and smiled affectionately at her.
They eventually came to a vaulted room, Ravanan focused his attention on a hanging formation near the center of the ceiling and cast “STARLIGHT” on it. It began to glow with bright light and simultaneously their light spells dimmed away. He said “This is the wardrobe chamber, it is full of useful things.”
The new light illuminated a weapons cache in the center of the room. Rather than quantity, the collection seemed to be based on quality as if they were meant for a quick death. The only exception were two ornate wizard staffs with crystal finials and looked to be more for display than anything else.
The weapons were perfectly laid out and in excellent condition. Kalara recognized one of them, a dirk with a transparent blue blade, it had to be Bolt the one Ravanan had evoked to drain that cow’s blood for his anchor. Some other interesting ones were an amethyst-encrusted dagger and a glowing-white leather-bound set of six razor sharp curved swords that were double-ended and resembled a gentle S-shape, from sword tip to sword tip they were twice as tall as her, maybe more, all twelve blades were identical, the bright metal was etched with runes, and yet there was no handle in the middle to wield them, she couldn’t figure out how to hold them without getting cut, nor could she understand why have six when one would do just fine.
“How do you hold them?” she asked, gently running her fingertips over the six double swords.
“You don’t. They float.” Ravanan admired his craftsmanship. “Hexdeath is a weapon of theory, I was bored when I made it. It hasn’t even been used.”
Next to Hexdeath was an empty place where something small was missing.
Kalara was astonished at the measurable wealth in the chamber, “And you don’t protect this stuff?”
“Why would I?”
“These weapons look costly.”
“Yes, they are nice tools but that is all they are.”
“Ravanan, I don’t get it, why didn’t you just place your treasure down here? Then it wouldn’t have been stolen. No one could ever find it.”
He laughed at that idea. “You really think my treasure would be sitting in open view?” Ravanan asked her. “This chamber and passageway isn’t the only one in Black Blade. The passageway we just came through is a fraction of the length of the one leading to my treasure room, it lies deep at the base of this mountain. The chamber you found was my display room, a perfect, three-dimensional picture of each of my treasures, stunningly lit from all angles, while the real treasure was supposedly safe down below. Once it was stolen, the display room had no treasure to display.”
Kalara felt embarrassed by her amnesia-induced ignorance, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”
Ravanan turned away and took a second, longer glance at the cache.
His face went white.
“It’s not here.” In shock he looked around on the floor for her Green Pack or any sign of trespassing. “Your Green Pack isn’t here, the bow is gone! Everything else is here except that bow.”
Kalara was only mildly concerned, she didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. “Maybe you put it somewhere else.”
Ravanan dismissed her theory and continued to pace the floor. “You don’t get it, the tools down here stay down here unless they are summoned directly to us. Then they return to their storage place when given permission to do so. See?” He paused for a heartbeat but said nothing, and then the Mayan table and chairs appeared against the wall. “We don’t create things from nothing, first we must find or make them and then enchant and name them. Only the dragon who named them can evoke and dismiss them.” Ravanan looked at her “You need to cast Evoke Green Pack. Say it just like that.”
Kalara was apprehensive, “Do you think I’ll be able to?”
“Try it” he urged.
Kalara concentrated on seeing the bow of her dreams, then cast “EVOKE GREEN PACK” but nothing happened.
They both looked disappointingly at each other. Then Ravanan said “I don’t understand, that bow should come to you no matter where it is currently. If it still exists then it should come back to you since you made it.”
Kalara turned from him, not wanting to think about her failure, and walked over to the table to sit down. She was deflated. However, Ravanan would not give up and kept thinking about her green bow. Then his eyes lit up, “Kalara, what if your dream wasn’t just a dream? What if your mind is trying to resurrect your past for you – showing you pieces that fit together?
“Listen to me, from the union spell we know you were found by Annette, you were lost in a jungle, a real jungle that I recognize I’ve been there too. You had somehow lost your prey, then you were stuck searching for it. That is odd because prey don’t escape from dragons and why would you get lost in a jungle that you have hunted in your whole life?”
He paced the floor some more “Then in that dream you had, you were hunting in that same jungle – I know it was the same because I know that tree.” he grinned at Kalara “Although it’s smaller in real life. You were about to release an arrow, and then we woke up. Maybe you never got to release that arrow because Annette stopped you.”
Ravanan took a seat near her. “Maybe Annette did something to you t
hat shut your mind down. Do you realize what this means?” His voice raised pitch with excitement. “Annette didn’t kindly take you up there to protect you, she trapped you and took your bow – that’s why it’s not here. She broke your weapon and dismantled it for parts, that is the only way it would not have returned to you. Kalara, you were taken against your will! Before that you were quietly hunting, nothing evil in your thoughts whatsoever. You didn’t steal my gold....Annette did.”
Kalara crinkled her forehead and replied “Ravanan, you don’t know that for certain. I can’t see her taking your gold and besides, I know for a fact that she is broke. The tribe has to support her and help with the bills. She doesn’t care about money.”
Ravanan answered back flatly “EVERY dragon cares about wealth.”
She ignored him and worked through it in her head. Had Annette been so evil as to trap her? No, Annette had been trying to help her, she even said so. She quickly revisited the scary eyes that had looked down upon her in the mall, they didn’t look like Annette’s eyes. Could it be possible that Annette was behind her amnesia? There was no way, Annette cared for people, she birthed babies and healed the sick she wasn’t evil. She liked Annette. The medicine woman had helped her when there was no one else. True, Annette had been unsuccessful in finding Kalara’s past, but what if it wasn’t possible to get her memories back? Or was Ravanan right and Annette secretly wasn’t trying that hard to help? Kalara didn’t know what to think but she wasn’t ready to blame someone who had helped her so much. She would just have to get Ravanan to see it her way.
The Cursed Dragon Page 15